Ahead of the fourth edition of the Joburg Indaba, stakeholders of the mining industry are upbeat and focused on becoming internationally competitive to secure the future of this key driver of the South African economy.

One of the central themes at this year’s Joburg Indaba is what the mining industry is doing to attract investment into their own companies in this sector.

“Instead of pointing externally we are focusing on how we, as an industry, can better manage elements that are in our control, be they productivity, costs, safety, volumes, growth and expansion,” states Joburg Indaba chairman, Bernard Swanepoel.

This year’s sold out event has attracted a full house of regulators, CEOs, labour, analysts, investors and suppliers to the industry.

Sipho Nkosi, Non-Executive Chairman, Talent10, and a panelist at this year’s event, noted at a recent Joburg Indaba breakfast “we need to define who we want to be, act honestly, and occupy the space in the sense that our voices have to be heard out there. We need to be more proactive and stop being more reactive.”

The last two Joburg Indabas held critical conversations on the topic of Mechanization and Modernisation. The outcome of which was a definition of Modernisation being about changing the leadership style, changing the way industry interacts with stakeholders and about creating value in such quantities that there is enough to go around.

This year CEOs will be going face to face with Fund Managers, Mining Communities, Unions, and Investment Analysts in unpacking the divergent challenges they face, including industry tradeoffs of how the industry can strike a balance between past, present and the industry’s future needs.

“Only the bold survive in an industry like ours, and it’s not surprising that leaders of our industry are at the forefront of raging debates in our young democracy”, mentions Swanepoel.

At a gala dinner preceding the two-day event, the Joburg Indaba will unveil an addition to its successful platform – the SA Mining Hall of Fame and will announce nine inductees who have helped shape the South Africa mining industry.

“We have a very high calibre and interesting line up of speakers this year,” says Paula Munsie, CEO Joburg Indaba “we are delighted to welcome Sipho Pityana who will be giving a keynote address on the morning of 5th October, as will (Enoch Godongwana) of the ANC and Trevor Manuel.

At the Joburg Indaba 2016, stakeholders of the South African mining industry will gather and openly debate and collaborate on how they are going to take charge of the future of South African mining, on what is actually within their control, and how they are going to attract investment. Delegates will be given a tantalizing glimpse into the future world of energy and innovation in mining, and get a taste of some of the new projects available as participants in the event’s Lions Lair pitch their proposals to a team of senior investment advisors.